Air conditioning device



E. J. LATTNER AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE Sept. 28, 1937.

Filed April 8, 1935- 2 Sheets-Sheet l W, a W 2 W7 m f J 2 Z z )w 3 y I W a Agra/r00 [haw/547m? p 1937. E. J. LATTNER AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 8, 1935 [M ENTOR. [Z/[prJlwm [g ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to air conditioning systems and devices and has particular relation to a heat exchange system and to a humidifier and dehumidifier for such a system.

It is a general object of my invention to provide an improved and simplified heat exchange mechanism, humidifier and dehumidifier.

An object of my invention is to provide means for circulating an air current and for introducing moisture into and removing moisture from such a current.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for cooling an air current.

Another object of my invention is to provide a plurality of surfaces located in the air stream and means for constantly moistening these surfaces as the moisture is removed therefrom by the circulating air current.

Another object of my invention is to provide an extremely simple drive for moving moistened surfaces into the air current.

Another object of my invention is to provide, in a humidifier employing movable moistened surfaces, an extremely simply means for producing air circulation through the humidifier, and for moistening the surfaces and moving them into the air current. i

Another object of 'my invention is to provide means for removing dust and any form of particles from the air current.

Another object of my invention is to provide an air conditioning device in which the air passing through'the machine is not discharged in a cold intense blast but isues therefrom in a widely dispersed stream.

Another object of my invention is to provide for direct recirculation through the humidifier of part of the air issuing from the humidifier.

Other and further features and objects of my invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration ofthe accompanying drawings and following specification, wherein is disclosed several .exemplary embodiments of the invention, with the understanding,

however, that such changes may be made therein as fall within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention. I

In said drawings: I

Figure l is a view, partly in section and partly in.elevation, of a device constructed according to one embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, illustrating a novel form of hot air furnace and how an air conditioner, 'a-humidifier and dehumidifier, constructed according to another embodiment of my invention, may be incorporated in such a furnace; and

Figure 3 is a view, in section, of the air conditioning device shown in Figure 2 and taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Figure 1, there is shown at I0, generally,- a humidifier frame or casing including legs or uprights II, one at each of four corners, rails l2 near the bottom of the uprights for connecting them, rails l3 at the upper ends of the uprights for connecting the upper ends, and a cover M for covering the frame.

Perforated panels [6 are inset in the side and end walls and the openings ll through these panels are of sufiicient diameter to permit air to flow into and out of the humidifier without materially retarding the air flow. Filter screens l5 of cloth or the like are usually provided inside the panels l6. Supporting rails l8 are provided on the inside of the walls of the humidifier and these horizontally extending supporting rails are secured at their ends to the legs H.

A rectangular plate I9 is provided which is adapted to be horizontally disposed within the humidifier to divide the interior thereof into two chambers 33 and 34. The dimensions of this plate are such that it fits closely against the walls of the humidifier frame and rests on-the supporting rails Ill. The central portion of the plate I9 is upstruck to provide a circular fiange I914 and thus forms a cylindrical opening 2| through the plate for permitting a flow of air from the upper chamber 33 to the lower chamber 34, as hereinafter more particularly explained.

A U-shaped motor-and-disc-support bracket 22 is secured in .an inverted or depending position below the plate l9 as by means of bolts 23. A horizontally extending portion 22a of the bracket 22 extends from side to side across the opening 2| and a central portion 22b is cranked upwardly to provide a recess in which a motor 24 and reduc-- tion gear 24a may be mounted. Depending arms 22c and 22d are provided on either end of the bracket 22 and these arms are inclined outwardly for a purpose hereinafter more particularly described. The arms 22c and 22d terminate in bosses 22c and 221. A pair of inwardly and downwardly inclined rods or stub shafts 26 and 21 are received in the bosses 22c and 22 These rods are placed at right angles to the arms 22c and; I

- overflow. pipe 35.

A fan 3| is mounted on the vertically extending shaft 32 of the motor 24, and the motor and fan are so located that the fan rotates in a horizontal plane within the cylindrical portion I90, of the plate l9 and thus draws air into the openings I! of the upper portion of the panel l6 and through the filter cloth l into the chamber 33 down through the opening 2| in the center portion of-the plate l9, into the chamber 34, between and over the moistened discs 36 to pick up moisture from the discs, and out through the screen l5 and panel H5 at the lower portion thereof. The direction of movement of the air is indicated by the arrows on the drawings. It is to be noted at this point that the panels l6 are on all four sides of the humidifier and that in this manner air is drawn into the humidifier from four sides so that there is not any great rush of air at any one point. This same condition exists on discharge of the air, since the discharge is also on all four sides of the humidifier, and in fact some of the air discharges from the lower part of the humidifier, passes into the air being drawn into the humidifier and is recirculated. This recirculation of air is of advantage since it permits a two step humidification of the air, and inasmuch as the air may not be completely humidified on first passing through the humidifier, its moisture content may be increased before it is finally discharged from the humidifier.

The mechanism for introducing moisture into the stream of air includes a plurality of discs- 36 spaced apart on sleeves 31 and 38. The discs 36 are preferably of wire mesh and this wire mesh is usually of non-corrosive material. Spoked end discs 39 are provided on the outer ends of the sleeves Zi and 28 nearest the bosses 22a and 22 f, and another set of spoked discs 4| and 42 are provided on the inner ends of the sleeves 31 and 38. The motor 25 is provided with any suitable form of reduction gearing, which gearing is housed in the casing 24a, and this reduction gearing drives a small shaft 43 on which a small drive wheel or drive pulley 44 is located. The groove of the pulley 44 is filled with a leather or rubber material andthe discs 4! and 42 are provided with beveled edge portions Ma. and 420 which engage and roll on the rubber filler of the drive pulley 44. The stub shafts 26 and 21 are sloped inwardly and downwardly in order that the weight of the discs and end plates will cause the disc assemblies to tend to slide inwardly to thus maintain suitable friction drive engagement between the drive pulley 4G and the discs 45 and 82. The stub shafts 25 and 2'! are engaged in the respective bosses 22c and 22 by means of set screws it and the entire assembly of discs and stub shafts may be readily removed by disengaging the set screws 56 and pulling the stub shafts out of the corresponding bosses.

An ozonizer 37 may be provided, and this ozonizer is preferably located on the inside of the humidifier just below the top it and in one corher of the humidifier plane. The ozonizer may be electrically energized by the same electric circuit which energizes and controls the motor 24 or may be independently energized and controlled.

The device shown in Figure 1 and just described is particularly suitable for a portable humidifier but, obviously, the humidifier may be employed in stationary machines as well.

In Figures 2 and 3 I have illustrated a novel hot air furnace. A humidifier, constructed according to another embodiment of my invention, may be applied to the hot air furnace. I have also disclosed a novel air conditioning means including a means whereby a relatively large body of cooling water may be employed for cooling the air stream passing through the humidifier and also whereby the body of cooling water may be cooled over long periods of time and stored. The cooling water so stored may be utilized to quickly remove heat from the air stream passing through the air conditioning apparatus even at peak conditions where the air temperature is relatively high. in other words I provide means whereby large bodies of cooling Water may be cooled by a refrigerator system, the capacity of which system is much less than the capacity necessary to cool air passing through the humidifier at high temperatures or peak conditions. The refrigerator unit employed to cool the cooling water may be operated over a long period of time during the time when the air temperature is low, as at night and the cooling water thus stored used during the day when the air temperature is high.

A novel hot air furnace suitable for use with my air conditioning system is indicated generally at 5! in Figures 2 and 3. A base 52 is employed for supporting the front end of the body portion of the heater 53 and the rear end of the heater is supported by a pipe standard 54. The upper portion of the base 52 and the lower front portion ofthe heater 53 are lined with refractory material 56 to form a fire box 57, and an oil burner 58 or other means for burning fuel is located at the front of the heater, with the blast tube 59 thereof projecting into the heater. The rearwardly extending portion M of the heater is providd with a plurality of relatively large vertically-extending pipes 52a, 62b and $20 to provide vertical channels leading through the heating chamber of the furnace to permit the circulated air to be heated. The entire heater is enclosed by a rectangular jacket 63, and air, as indicated by the arrows, may flow in at the bottom of the heater and up through the tubes 62a, 62b and 620 or through the space around the heater between the heater and the jacket 63, and may then pass upwardly through the discharge opening 64. The heated products of combustion, as indicated by the dot-and-dash arrows, may pass upwardly and rearwardly around the first row of tubes 6211, down beneath a transverse vertical baffie 66, around the next row of tubes 6%, over a baffie 66b around the next row of tubes 620, back down under a bafile 85c and through the stack 67.

The discs 68 of a, humidifier, constructed according to a modified form of my invention, are mounted for rotation in the casing 69 at the rear of the heater and are adapted to be driven by a motor H in the same manner as they are driven in the device shown in Figure l. The water for wetting the discs is carried in the pan 72. Air entering through the intake pipe 113 is directed over and between the discs 68 by a deflector l5 and then passes through the filters it. The air,

which is'now laden with moisture, is drawn down through the channel I6 by means of a fan 11, which is driven by motor 18, and is driven through the conduit 19 and into the chamber ll below the tubes 62a, 62b and 62c, where the air then passes upwardly through the pipes and is discharged throughthe opening 64. Q

It is to be observed that in this embodiment of i the invention, the air circulating means and disc to' cool a refrigerant and drive it through the rotating means are driven by separate motors and that the humidifying means is located above the air circulating means in reversed position from that shown in Figure 1. of such a positioning of the humidifier is that a large storage tank. 82 may be employed and since the humidifier is located well above the floor level a deep tank of high storage capacity may be employed. In this embodiment of the invention, I prefer to place cooling coils 83 in'the storage tank and to employ a refrigerator unit 84 cooling coils 'to thus cool the cooling water in the storage tank. Water may pass from the storage tank into the pan 2 through the conduit 86 and back into the storage tank through the conduit 81. The well-known thermo-siphon effect may be employed to circulate the water from the storage tank to the wet disc tank I2 and back, or a motor (not shown) may be employed to drive .a pump (not shown) for the purpose. It is apparent that the refrigerator unit may run twenty-four hours a day if necessary, in orderto cool the entire body of water, so that alarge supply of cooled fluid is available during the day when the air temperature is high and the cooling effect is most desirable. v

Modifications maybe made by those skilled in the art and such modifications may be made with- 'out departing from the spirit'and scope of my 40 invention asset forth in the appended claims.

One of the advantages I claim as my invention:

1. In a humidifier, a motor, a drive pulley driven by the motor, a stub shaft inclined downwardly in the direction of the drive pulley, and aplurallty of discs including a drive disc rotatably mounted on the stub shaft and so disposed that the periphery of at least one of the discs enof gravity causes the disc to frictionally engage the drive pulley at all times.

3. In a humidifier, ,a plurality of rotatably mounted discs, means for mounting the discs'for rotation, the axis .of which mounting means is I disposed at an angle with respect to the horizontal whereby the discs tend to slide downwardand fan for circulating air through the humidi fier and pulley means driven by the motor disposed in the path of the discs as they tend to slide downwardly to afford a frictional drivewith the discs. 4. In a humidifier, a casing, a horizontally extending partition in the casing having an opening therethrough, a bracket depending.

from the partition, a motor onthe bracket, discs rotatably mounted in the bracket, 9. fan located in the opening in the casing driven by the motor and means for driving the discs from the fan motor.

EMERT J. LA'I'I'NER.

ly along the axis of the mounting means. a motor 

